A campaign of sampling atmospheric precipitation and real-time measurements of atmospheric non-refractory submicron particulate matter NR-PM₁ and its component concentrations before, during and after precipitation at a representative region in Beijing from December 2016 to November 2017 was performed to investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of precipitation, changes of major ion components in rainwater during the course of typical precipitation events, and impacts of typical precipitation processes on atmospheric non-refractory submicron particulate matter NR-PM₁ and its components. Backward trajectory clustering analysis was deployed to study the effects of air mass through long-range transport on main ion components in rainwater. The results showed that the precipitation at the representative region of Beijing in 2017 mainly occurred in summer, accounting for 82.2% of the total rainfall amount. The precipitation was mainly neutral or alkaline, accounting for 86.7% of the total precipitation, and the frequency of acid rain was very low. The seasonal variation of pH values in the rainwaters was characterized by winter > spring > summer~autumn. The seasonal variations of the total ion concentrations, total anion and cation concentrations in the precipitations, which in polluted days were significantly higher than those in clean days, followed the order of spring > summer > winter > autumn. The annual average concentrations of water-soluble ions in the rainwaters were characterized by NH₄⁺ > Ca²⁺ > NO₃^- > SO₄^2- > Na⁺ > Cl^- > Mg²⁺ > F^- > K⁺, among which NH₄⁺, Ca²⁺, NO₃^- and SO₄^2- were the most important components in the rainwaters, which accounted for about more than 80% of the total ion concentration. The concentrations of all ions in pollution days were higher than those in clean days. During the course of the rainfall with three stages such as initial, middle and latter stage, the ion concentrations in the initial stage were mostly highest in all stages of the rainwater, and were much lower in the middle stage than those in the initial phase, however, were a little higher in the latter stage than those in the latter middle stage. The precipitation with smaller rainfall and rainfall rate had stronger scavenging effects on atmospheric NR-PM₁ and its components in pollution days, while precipitation with larger rainfall and rainfall rate showed weak scavenging effects in clean days. It is noted that there were always two important processes at each stage of rainfall, with accumulation of pollutants and formation of secondary pollutants, as well as the washout and rainout of precipitation. During this study, the precipitation in the typical area was mainly affected by air masses from the southeast of Beijing, accounting for 60% of the total precipitation, and the southwest, accounting for 23%, which mainly occurred in summer. These air masses had different effects on the ion components in precipitation.